Specs advice on iMac 27 inch 5K please

I’d like some advice please. I’m ready to replace my 2011 iMac to a 27 inch 5K iMac, but am not sure the best specs to get.

I mostly use it for general web stuff, which doesn’t need a lot of power, but I do also use it for photo and video editing (personal, not professional), recording music videos for YouTube, and multi-track recording (4 or 5 tracks at the most usually).

So while I don’t want to spend money unnecessarily, I do want to make sure that it can do the job. The reason I’m replacing my 2011 iMac is because it is painfully slow with video editing, and photo editing now, and I’m getting the rainbow spinning circle with pretty much everything I open now.

I keep everything on the hard drive, so was thinking the 3TB drive, as I already have 2TB of data on my current iMac. I know I could use external hard drives, but I don’t want to have something constantly connected to the iMac. I’ve heard rumours that the 3TB drive isn’t very reliable. Does anyone know if those problems have been fixed for the latest model?

Also thinking of upgrading to 16GB RAM (I have 8GB now). Could someone please tell me if RAM in the latest model is user upgradable?

Also after hearing the rumours of a new model coming out sometime around September/October, I’m wondering if there will be a new FaceTime camera released with the new iMacs? Anyone heard any rumours of this? It seems like it has been a few years since they have had an update.

Thank you so much anyone who can give me some advice.

 

Thank you so much everyone for your feedback! It’s really great to hear from people who have used the iMac I’m looking at to do the things I do, rather than just talking to sales staff, so thank you very much!

You’ve given me a lot to think about, and now I’m considering the 1TB fusion instead of the 3TB. One thing I didn’t mention in my first message is that I’m in Australia, so not eligible for the Best Buy special. I can get 10% off anyway though with an education discount but that is off any model that I buy. Given that info, would you still suggest I get the 1TB instead of 3TB?

Also it seems like the suggestion is to get the older iMac 5K instead of the new one just released because of the 290x GPU. Is that right? Do you think it will matter for resale that it is 2014 instead of mid-2015?

Thanks again everyone for your feedback!

 

Thank you so much for that. Really appreciate your reply. I had thought of the SSD, but would rather keep the files that I'm constantly using on my computer, so I don't think 256GB would be enough, and the 1TB SSD brings the price up too high.

I'm thinking at this stage I'll probably go 3.5/8/1TB FD/M290X retina iMac, and possibly tonight

 

Yes, I'd thought of upgrading my hard drive, and keeping my current iMac, but I"m also upgrading from 21.5 inch to 27 inch so the extra screen space plus the retina display is so tempting for me.

 

So I did it! I got the 3.5/8/1TB FD/M290X retina iMac tonight! Can't wait to open it up and have a play! Thanks again everyone for your help.

Good idea! I bought a 2 TB bus powered portable drive, and will probably just sit it on the stand. There are so many other things lying around (music equipment etc) that one more thing won't even be noticeable!

Haha... I almost did get the bright orange Lacie Rugged! There was one at the Apple Store, but ended up getting a Toshiba one.

Thanks again everyone!

 

Ah, I hadn't thought of slipping off the orange coat. Actually what stopped me from buying it was that it was three times the cost of the Toshiba one that I ended up getting. Eventually I'd like the Time Capsule, but after spending $3000 on a computer in one day, the Time Capsule will have to wait, so the Toshiba is a good stopgap in the meantime for Time Machine. I already had a drive for my files, and both of them sit nicely on the iMac stand.

Loving the new iMac! So much faster, and I started from fresh rather than restoring from Time Machine backup so have got rid of all those little programs I may have used once or twice and forgotten about.

 

Yes, I did. It's perfect for what I need. So fast and the retina display is beautiful! Very happy with it, and very appreciative of everyone's advice. Without that I probably would have spent a lot of extra money on extras that I didn't need.